Think of the plot of a story as a mountain. The climax is at the top of the mountain. Before the peak is the ascending action (tensions are mounting) and after the peak is the descending action (tensions are easing). If the climax was at the end it would be too abrupt....such as the Grinch stole all the children's candies...the end. You see...that would be too abrupt. Good stories have to wind down and this is why the climax must be in the middle.

The climax of the story is when True Son alerts the White Man’s boat that the Indians are laying for them, thus betraying his Indian people.

A story’s climax is the turning point, or the most interesting point. It is the point where the original problem is no longer an issue, though a new one might arise.

The initial problem in this story is that True Son, a white boy abducted by Indians when he was four, needs to be returned to his birth family. Being a Delaware Indian is all he knows, so he does not want to go.

The climax of the story is when True Son finally returns to his people. He is thrilled at first, but then he takes part in a raid on a White boat.

Then someone in the boat moved and disclosed a child. It was a boy about Gordie’s age…could it be that his mother and father were on this boat, coming west to find him, and that they had taken Godie along? (ch 14, p. 128)

When he sees the little boy is there, True Son raising a warning to them. The Indians shoot the father.

True Son has betrayed his people, so he faces trial. He decides that he no longer wants to be an Indian, because he does not approve of their actions. He also does not approve of the White Men’s actions, including massacring Indians. So True Son decides he is neither (the resolution).